Army of One
by ThatDesGuy
Summary: During an attack on his home village, Jaune Arc activates his semblance. Evildoers beware! Where he walks, an army follows!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even a smidgen.**

* * *

 **Prologue: Loyal Troops Are Hard to Find... So Just Make Your Own!**

 **Jaune Age Nine**

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, there was a slight breeze that was _just_ right, today was a good day, and what better way to spend this day as a child than to play outside?

That's where little Jaune Arc could be found playing in the backyard of his family home. But he was bored, his sisters were all out doing... doing _girl_ things, and that left all Jaune alone with only himself to play with.

So here he was, stuck kicking around a ball in their backyard, wishing for a friend to play with. Jaune absentmindedly kicked the ball a little too hard, and it went soaring up and over the wooden fence surrounding their home.

Jaune scrambled past the gate to retrieve the ball, though he need not to, someone had already gotten to it first.

Jaune's eyes widened in awe at the sight of the figure holding his ball in his armored gauntlet out to him. The figure dropped the ball and kicked it with one plated foot back to Jaune.

"D-Do you want to play w-with me?" Jaune asked in awe, nearly not getting the ball as it rolled by.

The figure nodded its covered head, and a grin that rivaled the brightness of the sun graced Jaune's face. He picked up the ball with both hands and dashed off; the figure in silver armor dutifully followed.

Jaune and his new friend played in the woods with the ball for what seemed like hours to Jaune, though it was more like only half an hour. Jaune was brought out of his haze of fun by the sound of his mother calling him.

"Over here mom!" Jaune answered.

There was the sound of someone going through the brush, branches and twigs snapping before Jaune's mother came into view.

"Hi mom!" Jaune waved at her.

"What are you doing out here, dear?" she asked.

"I'm playing with my new friend," Jaune answered with another smile bright enough to cast shadows and his eyes lit up. "Meet my friend, mom, he's a knight!"

Violette Arc watched as her son turned around expecting someone to be there, but there was no one else here when she had found him. Just him and his red ball.

"A-Are you feeling well, Jaune?" Violette asked slowly, moving up to kneel beside her son.

"Where did he go?" Jaune asked, apparently not having heard her question. "He was just here..."

"Jaune? Jaune!" Violette's voice cracked through the air like a whip.

Jaune jumped in surprise at the sudden intensity from his mom. He looked at her in fear and confusion.

"Are you sure there was someone else here with you?" she asked, staring directly into his eyes.

Jaune nodded his head resolutely. Violette's trained eyes roamed the surrounding dirt, but she saw no sign of anyone else being here, granted, the earth was disturbed by her son having his fun, but there weren't any marks left over that would be evidence of someone wearing armor running around in the woods.

Let's go home now Jaune, dinner's ready."

Jaune allowed himself to be led away from the woods, looking back, he could not catch any sight of his new friend.

Though that did not deter the young boy for long. He spent the entire trek back home regaling his mother about the adventures he had with Mr. Knight; from slaying a 'bajillion' grimm, to the beginnings of their 'totally awesome-cool tree fort' which will have at least ten rooms, not including the rocket launch pad and dinosaur room.

At the dinner table, his two younger sisters stared wide-eye as he talked, hanging from the edge of their seats as they hear how Jaune and the Silver Knight defeated several dozen beowolves.

"-And then, the knight swung like Hwah! and Shing!" Jaune swung his arms in imitation of holding a sword.

"Wooow..." intoned Auburn, the younger of the two listeners.

At the other end of the table, the adults and teenagers of the Arc Household were having a small chuckle at how animated Jaune was being.

Dinner passed on as a much more animated affair than usual, and by the end of it, everyone had heard of how great and cool Jaune's new friend was.

* * *

Weeks pass and Jaune continues to play outside with his new friend, so much so that some of his sisters were feeling left out now, as Jaune no longer played with them.

Even his parents were beginning to notice how Jaune seemed to recluse himself away from rest of them, though that only seemed to apply with the amount of time he spent with his friend. Other than the amount of time he spent outside in the woods alone, he was still their little bundle of good intentions and clumsiness.

Now, it was the night of Jaune's tenth birthday, and there was a great party planned out, with presents, a cake, everything a ten-year-old would want.

The party went off without a hitch, lasting well into the evening, so much so that Jaune fell asleep before the festivities were concluded.

* * *

Jaune was awoken to the sound of his mother rushing into his room, a look of fear upon her face before it momentarily turned to relief upon seeing him underneath his sheets. Then the fear return as she grabbed Jaune and hugged him to her chest.

Jaune was still groggy from being woken up and did not understand what was going on. He did not speak, because his mother whispered to him not to as she carried him down into the cellar, where his sisters were already congregated.

They looked scared, holding each other for dear life. But Jaune still did not understand; what could cause boisterous, fearless Ashe to hold young Auburn tightly? Why was talkative and bright Azure, now so silent? Why were Tawny and Hazel silently crying while holding each other?

Why was mom crying as she spoke: "No matter what you hear or what happens, do not open these doors, We'll come back when its safe." she gave Jaune a reassuring smile. "Be strong Jaune, for all of us." she closed the thick oak doors, and Jaune heard something falling over on the other side.

Safe? Safe from what? Jaune did not understand.

And then Jaune heard it; the teeth rattling howl. The howl went on for seconds, and then it was join by a second voice with a piercing growl, and then a third sound was heard; shrill screeching, more and more sounds joined the howl until there was a cacophony of sound.

And Jaune understood now.

They were coming.

The Grimm were here.

The noise continued to persist, and Jaune brought his hands up to cover his ears from the sound. He could _feel_ his hands shaking against the sides of his head. Jaune couldn't breathe, all he could hear was the sound of his blood pounding.

He was gasping for breath.

He couldn't breathe!

They were coming!

Jaune was momentarily brought out of his minor freak-out to looked up as he felt arms circle around him and hug him close. His older sister Ashe was hugging him, then he felt more arms encircling him, and craning his neck, he was able to see Ivory hugging his back as well.

This seemed to prompt all his other sisters to join in on the hug, so an impromptu hug ball formed in their cellar as they hugged each other in fear of what was to come next.

This outpour of love made Jaune feel slightly better as his fears momentarily subsided.

Then those fear returned as something impacted the other side of the closed cellar doors. One of his sisters gasped, Jaune wasn't sure which one, too busy trying to bury himself in Ashe's warm embrace. Jaune felt himself being lifted and then carried away, he looked away from her shoulder to see them now at the very back of the cellar, beside a half-assembled exercise bike and several boxes of undisclosed contents.

Jaune could hear stifled crying, but he couldn't tell which of his sisters were, in a way, Jaune was glad he couldn't identify the source.

In the silence since whatever had struck the cellar doors, Jaune could consciously hear himself breathing.

A growl came from the other side of the door, reverberating through the wood and rattling Jaune's little bones.

Jaune flinched and clung even harder against Ashe.

The growling increased, and the sound of wood cracking and being torn apart was heard before something impacted against the doors once more, causing them to bend inwards.

Jaune turned to face the cellar doors to see the crack between the doors be filled by matted black fur and white bone.

Part of the left door broke away as a furry black limb that ended in long sharp claws punched through it.

Jaune heard screaming, someone was screaming now, A high-pitched shrill scream.

It took Jaune a moment to realize that it was _him_ screaming, but then his scream was joined by those of his sisters.

With that realization, Jaune could not stop screaming as the beowolf crashed into the cellar door again. He also could not look away as he made eye-contact with the beowolf, staring into its visible red eye through the crack in the cellar doors.

In response to Jaune's fear, and actually seeing him, the Beowolf gave another roar that shook the doors in their frame.

Jaune screamed himself hoarse, just in time for the Beowolf to finished breaking through the cellar doors. It ripped the doors into splinters, flinging them behind it as it stalked into the cellar.

Jaune and his sisters cowered in fear. Jaune's eyes roamed around the room, trying to find something, anything at all that could save them, but there was nothing in sight.

Jaune could hear crying again. This time, he saw that it was Azure crying with both hands covering her mouth.

Jaune didn't know what to do, he didn't know how to stop her crying, he hated seeing his sisters cry.

Jaune could only hug his sister all the tighter as the first of two beowolves entered the room on all four, the one behind it entering with wide upright steps.

The eight of them scrambled backwards, hands reaching behind themselves to find their way, eyes always on the stalking beowolves.

But there was only so much space left in the cellar, and when their backs reached the cold cement wall, there was nowhere else to go.

Beowolves, sensing easy prey, took their time stalking towards the trapped Arcs. The one on all four was salivating, dark liquid staining the carpet black. While the bipedal one simply followed behind.

Up close, through all the fear, a part of Jaune's mind was still capable of distinguishing that the upright one was larger than the other, it was also more armored, with actual bone white plating covering forearms and thighs as well as the head, instead of the spikes.

One of his sisters whimpered.

Jaune could only watch as the two beowolves leaped at him and his family.

Jaune looked away, even as his sisters screamed, Jaune looked way from certain death. To his eternal shame, Jaune covered his face with his hands as the beowolves came at them.

Jaune screamed in terror as the beowolf swiped at his front.

His last thoughts were for someone, anyone, to save him and his family. For a savior. For a knight in shining armor.

As Jaune fell down, he continued to scream as what appeared to be the end arrived for him.

Jaune was still screaming, which means he wasn't dead, which means this _wasn't_ the end.

Suddenly, a piercing keen interrupted Jaune's internal and external screaming. The loud and off-putting sound drew Jaune's attention, stopping his own screaming as he ran out of breath. He opened his eyes and looked up to see the impossible.

Jaune was slack-jawed at what appeared before him.

Standing between Jaune and the beowolves was a figure covered from head to toe in glowing silver armor, a close-fitted silver chest plate over a tunic of gleaming silver chainmail, pants legs, greaves, boots, gauntlets, and a winged helm, all shining brightly in the cellar, resting from its shoulders was the remains of a short tattered off-white cape, its edges fluttered from a non-existent wind.

It stood over six feet tall, standing a head taller than even the beowolves in the cellar with them. In his right and left hands respectively were a straight sword, and a kite shield with two silver crescent moons carved into its face.

The same design was in gold on the tattered cape, shimmering against the glowing silver.

Before him and his sisters, was his friend, The Silver Knight. Whom had just killed the beowolf that was about to attack, from what Jaune could see of the black smoke rapidly dissipating in the room, and the fact one of the two beowolves were now gone.

The last remaining beowolf, the alpha, seemed to regard the silver knight warily. It sniffed at the Silver Knight, unsure of something.

Not even one last snarl was allowed to escape as the silver knight -rushing forward in the blink of an eye- struck at the beowolf alpha where it stood, and bisecting it from left shoulder to right hip.

Jaune was bewildered at the sudden appearance of his friend, but that didn't stop him from breaking out into a smile that rivaled the brightness of the sun.

The beowolf alpha dissipated into black smoke as the silver knight turned back to face Jaune and knelt before him, sword planted tip-first into the floor.

Jaune rushed forward and hugged the kneeling knight, pressing its wing-tipped helm against his chest. he did not feel the cold of the metal armor wore by the knight, but was overcome by a feeling of warmth from the knight, like a thrumming battery, Jaune felt the pulsing energy the knight emitted.

Jaune looked up in wonder at his friend, while his sisters -seeing the coast was clear, and that the new entity before them was not going to kill and eat them- spread out likely at their momentary reprieve.

One of his sisters asked him whom the knight was. Jaune released the knight from his hold and turned around as he answered that it was his friend from the forest, now here to save them all.

With that thought, Jaune turned back to the knight, and with a wide smile asked for him to save his parents as well.

The silver knight stood up, and simply floated through the ceiling of the cellar, the astonishment of Jaune and his sisters.

A moment later, Jaune, to the surprise of his sisters, rushed through the broken doors and back up the stairs leading down to the cellar, ignoring the calls and shouts of worry behind him.

The sound of combat drew him to the family parlor, where he had played with his toy trucks not even a day earlier.

Jaune passed through the remains of their destroyed kitchen and hallway before skidding to a stop in the parlor.

There, his mother was standing guard over the crumpled form of his father, she was in the midst of a bitter fight with a large Ursa, while at the other end of the room, the silver knight was dispatching several Arthropods -large chitinous spider Grimm- and the second Ursa.

"Mom!" Jaune cried out in fear.

Violette Arc's focus shifted to surprise at hearing her son call to her, and in that moment of inattention, the Ursa Major swiped at her, forcing her to block awkwardly as the large paw took her off her feet.

With a grunt of pain, she impacted the wall before sliding to rest on the ground, the large family portrait crashing down on top of her, adding insult to injury.

With speed belied by its size, the ursa took several quick lumbering steps and made to grab hold of Jaune.

And suddenly, the silver knight was in-between Jaune and danger once more. but wait... he was still fighting the other ursa, the arthropods having already dissipated.

Who was _this_ knight?

He looked identical to the first silver knight, and like his counterpart, made no sounds when fighting, not even the sound of his sword swinging, or his armor clinking, or even the sound of footsteps as he cornered the ursa before dispatching it with a clean decapitation.

Jaune rushed over to his prone mother, pushing away the family portrait to drop down beside her body. To his relief, she was still breathing, but no matter how much she shook her body, she remained unconscious.

The same applied to his father, he could not see any wounds on his body, but neither of his parents were getting back up.

He looked up from their prone forms, worry etched upon his face, but as he looked up, he caught sight of the rest of the village through the broken wall of the parlor.

As if responding to his curiosity, the two knights glided across the room and through the hole.

Jaune slowly made his way to this opening, eyes transfixed upon what was happening to his home town.

What Jaune saw outside made his skin crawl. The family house was on a hill near the back of the settlement, and from that hill, it overlooked the rest. So Jaune could see as the horde of Grimm attack the settlement. To his left, somehow a fire had started and now several buildings were going up in flames.

Here and there were explosions and flashes of light that repelled the Grimm momentarily, but they were drowned out by the hunting cries of the creatures of darkness.

Climbing through the wreckage of wall, Jaune found himself at the very foot top of the knoll.

From his vantage point, he could see his friend, and his friend's friend currently engaging a Deathstalker. The two knights seemingly blocking the large pinchers and attack in return.

Jaune watched as one of the knights parried the gleaming stinger, momentarily stunning the grimm, and his partner thrust his sword though one of its many eyes.

Jaune looked away to the rest of the settlement and his heart sank; it was not enough. Just two knights to stop the spread of carnage, fear and destruction.

For every grimm the silver knights killed, there would be five more to take its place, and with the fear and despair in the air, more and more grimm were attracted here by the minute.

The knights were just far too outnumbered to do much good for his village.

Jaune gasped, as if sensing the threat they represented, a large group of Grimm had amassed, and were now heading towards the two knights.

Jaune's felt his heart plummet as he sank to his knees at the sight of so many Grimm; beowolves, ursas, arthropods, and several more that Jaune couldn't even name.

The two knights faced a horde of death and destruction, of soulless beings hell-bent on ending all life on Remnant.

And it just wasn't enough. Nowhere near enough.

There weren't enough knights to win this fight.

There needed to be more.

Jaune furtively wished there were more. His eyes closed as he begged, pleaded to some higher power to answer him to send more knights to save his village.

...

...

...

 _So did their liege raise his voice to the heavens..._

 _And so did they answer._

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 **Author's Note: Right, so it has been a while again. Ugh, I've got nothing to say really, stumbled into writer's block and haven't been able to get out of it. Plus classes started again a couple months ago, so that didn't help. I've just found less and less time to sit down and write. I also have begun to not like what I have already written, and conflicting ideas have made entire chapters to be erased and in need of redo.**

 **Well, I hope you all like this new idea I had. If you aren't able to fully picture the silver knights, they resemble the silver knights of Anor Londo in the Dark Souls series.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own none of the intellectual properties shown here.**

* * *

 **Chapter Two: Old Legends and New Ones**

The window over her bed cast pale light from the broken moon, illuminating her room as she jerked back from the door as something impacted it from the other side, the monster giving a squeal as it crashed into the reinforced door, bending it, but not breaking through just yet.

The little girl hid herself as best as she could under the blanket, head peeking out in morbid curiosity as the Grimm tested the strength of the door.

And they found it wanting as a black and white ball smashed through the door, sending splinters everywhere as the creature impacted the far wall and rebounding off.

the little girl was struck with fear, stuck on her bed as the boarbatusk rotated itself to face her.

It began to spin in place, picking up speed as it did so.

The little girl could only watch as the boarbatusk finished revving itself and shot towards her like a speeding bullet.

But then something crashed through her window, peppering her and her bed with shards of glass as it crashed into the boarbatusk, knocking it off course.

In slow motion, Emerald watched as a silver knight crashed into her room, almost blinding her with the light the knight emitted. She watched as the knight crashed shield first into the spinning boarbatusk and sent it careening to the side where it impacted the wall.

But this time, the creature of Grimm was stuck head first, the tusks having lodged too deep into the wall to properly pull itself out.

In a flash, Emerald saw the knight take advantage of the Grimm's position to easily stab it through the backside, the silver sword cutting through it like a hot knife through butter.

Emerald could only gape as the image of the silver knight was forever engraved into her memory, of the literal shining silver knight, and the symbol of two crescents upon its cape.

* * *

"-om!"

"Mom!"

"Mom, wake-up!"

Violette Arc, blearily came to, wincing as she tried to move her arms, _everything_ hurt, even with her Aura. She looked up to see her eldest daughter, Ashe, holding her, blinking away the bleariness, she saw her next eldest daughter, Scarlet, holding a sword and watching over their father, whom was unconscious still and was propped up against the back of the destroyed sofa.

It took her a moment to remember what had happened before her bout with unconsciousness.

Violette Arc surged upright, wincing at the pain and at the spots that covered her vision as she stood up to fast. The only thing on her mind was;

"Where is he? Where's Jaune!?"

Violette whirled around, trying to find Jaune, eyes crawling over every nook and cranny she saw, but to no avail.

"He's... He's okay mom..."

Violette saw Ashe traded looks with Scarlet. That did not placate any of her fears.

"No, there were two Ursas, and your father was hurt, and Jaune was suddenly here instead of being in the cellar with the rest of your sisters..." Violette's eyes sharpened at her disobeying daughters. "He should have been with you girls, now where is he?!"

Her two daughters shared a look before the younger of the two looked away. Her eldest turned back to her and brought an arm around her shoulders.

Violette took several tentative steps before she unhooked Ashe's arm from her shoulders, capable of walking on her own now.

Her eldest took her only a short distance, straight through the hole in the room and out onto the lawn overlooking the rest of the settlement.

She stopped in surprise.

The Grimm attack was still ongoing, but that was not what drew her attention; what captivated her was the literal army of glowing silver knights currently doing battle with the Grimm horde, and winning.

At the bottom of the knoll were dozens of the knights armed with swords, shields and spears, working in almost perfect tandem to cut through the Grimm in the most efficient way possible, not a single move was wasted, large sweeping attacks and thrusts pushed the Grimm back step by step to the center of the settlement.

These knights wielded their weapons with the skill to rival adult Huntsmen. They acted with such unity, no human team would ever be able to replicate such a feat without decades of experience with one another.

From her vantage point, Violette saw that the same was happening throughout the settlement, not just in front of their house; the army of silver knights were pushing the Grimm from all sides.

But those knights were not the only ones; there were more silver knights that were hanging back, they formed ranks, three deep and seven across. in the hands of these knights were bows taller than grown men, firing things that resembled lances more than arrows, which easily pierced through Grimm hide with such force that it usually left the victim impaled into the ground, stuck, or even a simple glancing hit would tear off chunks of flesh.

From her aura enhanced eyesight, there were even _more_ silver knights, going from house to house, hunting the Grimm that may have slipped the encirclement.

And at the center of it all, was little Jaune.

Violette gasped as she caught sight of her baby boy; he stood right behind the advancing line of knights, following them in step as they pushed back the Grimm all the way to the remains of the fountain that sat in the center of Lumbridge.

In that moment, in a sudden second of utter perplexing cohesion, the Grimm attempted to break though their encirclement, Grimm worked in tandem to pierce through the wall of knights; as beowolves, creeps, and even a King Taijitsu forced a gap in the wall of knights.

They succeeded momentarily before the line was reformed.

Several silver knight was torn to shreds, their forms dissipating into silver dust, much like how the Grimm dissipate when killed.

A single beowolf alpha made it through, its red eyes instantly focusing on Jaune with laser precision.

Violette made to intercept, even though she was much too far to make it in time.

She needn't worry though.

Neither did Jaune, he did not so much as blink as the several hundred pound monster went for his throat.

Appearing from thin air, two new knights stepped into existence in front of Jaune, shields raised to cover the young boy.

The beowolf alpha, unable to stop its momentum in time, crashed into the leftmost knight, rebounding off the shield before being struck across the snout, stunning it, just in time for the other knight get behind the creature and stab it through the back, its silver blade coming out the other end as the alpha died with a whimper.

It was at this moment that Violette began to make her way down to Jaune, initially stumbling upon the uneven ground before making a steady pace.

The last of the Grimm were being put to the sword as silver knights moved in to finish the remaining ones from the attack.

With that done, they stood at attention, as still as statues, their weapons sheathed and at their sides, but their hands remained on hilts in case anything else happened.

It was eerily quiet now, the only sound in the night now were the wind blowing; causing the capes the knights wore to flutter, there was the crackle of the house burning to her right, and simply the sound of her own footfalls.

So preoccupied with getting to Jaune, Violette just now realized that Ashe had followed her down.

"Jaune!" her eldest daughter called out, her shout sounding unnaturally loud in the silence of the night.

Jaune turned around, and Violette gasped, almost forced to look away as she was nearly blinded; Jaune eyes were no longer blue, they now glowed an ethereal silver to match the knights, no pupils, nor irises, just a pure shade of silver. Glowing with an intensity to match the sun.

Jaune's body suddenly went limp, but Violette was now close enough to catch him. "...Mom?" he asked, voice low, his eyes losing their silver glow and returning to their original bright blue as they drooped with exhaustion.

All around them, the knights began to fade away as well.

"I'm here Jaune, mommy's here, mommy's got you" Violette whispered as she cradled her baby boy.

A sense of relief well in her heart, her family was safe for the most part, but a small part began to worry about the future and what it may bring, of the attention that may be focused on Jaune. That small part in the back of her mind remembered the legends of old, and of one in particular.

A story of people destined to be legendary warriors, capable of challenging the Grimm no matter the odds, of mystical powers more potent than even the most dangerous of semblances. These warriors according to legend were so powerful that the monsters that are the Grimm are capable of feeling fear against such warriors. These warriors dated back before the creation of the Kingdom, even predating the discovery of Dust.

The most striking thing of these warriors was said to be their silver eyes, the same colour Jaune had just showcased. But it made no sense, his were naturally blue, and never had there been an Arc born with silver eyes, in fact, their line was infamous for producing blonde blue-eye children. So why had Jaune gained silver eyes, were the legends wrong?

This made her worry tenfold; if this was the return of old legends, what else was returning? What else will step out of the pages of a storybook and come to life?

What's next? The Four Maidens are real?

All Violette Arc knew was that the future was dark, and hidden by fog. That she will do her best making sure her family is able to cross these unknown waters.

And that no one, will ever make the connection between the silver knights and her son.

 _No one_.

* * *

Two parents pushed through the remains of their home, hoping beyond hope that their greatest fears had not been realized.

They had begged Violette Arc to allow them to search, after having been separated from their daughter during the attack, and the both of them must have blacked out from worry, because neither of them remember the conversation exactly, but the next thing either of them knew was that they were now going through the wreckage of their home.

"Em! Where are you?!" a mother cried in the aftermath of the Grimm attack.

"Mom!" A young girl cried, running up to her mother and burying her face into her mother's waist. "You're safe, you're safe"

"Oh my precious little gem" her mother cooed. "Mommy's okay now, everything's going to be okay"

* * *

In a land where the sun rays did not touch and perpetual night ruled, where dark purple crystals glowed and pulsed with power, where tar-like pits dotted the surface, an odd shaped glowing ball made its way up to the dark castle situated high up on the side of a bleak brown mountain.

The little floating tentacle'd orb like being entered a high ceiling room where a conference table sat in the middle, chairs that looked like they were made from bone sat around the table, while at its head was a throne made of the same purple crystals found outside.

It made its way to the owner of the purple crystal throne and began to glow, showing something only the watcher could see.

Suddenly, the orb-being shattered into a thousand pieces before turning into smoke as an armed impacted its chair rest. It was no regular arm though, this arm was deathly pale, red vein-like patterns ran across the surface of her skin, the nails were sharp and coloured a pitch black.

The owner of this arm was not happy, so this now confirms it, for just a moment she had felt _that_ power once more, it was a small blimp, but still noticeable, and now this seer had shown her proof that the accursed bloodline was still alive and well, time seemingly having not diluted any of its power.

She clenched her fists, nails digging into her palm, but she felt nothing, not even as they punctured her skin and began to draw black ichor.

This nuisance must be dealt now, swiftly before it could grown into an actual problem. Yes, this flower must be nipped in the bud before it destabilized everything she had worked on for the last millennia.

She growled as she sent out a telepathic call.

 _"Yes Ma'am?"_ came the gruff answer from the receiver.

"You have a new mission; in the town of Lumbridge, find the one with silver eyes and eliminate them"

 _"Understood Ma'am"_

"And Hazel, bring me their eyes please"

* * *

Ozpin walked through the makeshift hospital set up outside the destroyed remains of the actual one, taking a snip from his perpetual mug as he went.

A frown marred his usually calm visage; far too many questions and no answered did that to him. He along with about a half-dozen Hunters had arrived an hour ago, and instead of finding a settlement besieged, or worse, empty of its people, they find it with its walls mostly intact, and the civilians current tending to their wounded.

Such a feat would be a time to celebrate. But for some reason, not a single person could tell with any detail _how_ they had beat back the grimm.

It was as if the Grimm had simply disappeared in the middle of the attack.

Ozpin didn't like that, not one bit.

Something was afoot. But for the life of him, he could not understand why an entire community would lie about what had saved them.

Or did the Grimm truly just leave?

That was an even more dangerous question; what was powerful enough to control the Grimm to possible back off...

Well, he _knew_ who was powerful enough to do that, but he couldn't understand why she would. In fact, taking out the Arcs living in Lumbridge would strike an immense blow against moral, even if recent generations of the Arc family no longer served as Hunters or soldiers or even officers, they were still greatly respected in most circles.

Ozpin glanced through the examination glass of one of the remaining intact hospital rooms; on the other side was a young boy with messy blonde hair sleeping in the bed, beside him was his mother, looking dead on her feet, but still having the strength to watch over her baby boy.

He opened the door slowly, as to not disturb the sleeping child, his mother looked up, and Ozpin noticed how her eyes were sunken and cheeks were sallow, but that was not was drew his attention, it was that several different emotions flicker across her face before it settle to a look of disapproval as he entered the room.

How curious.

Ozpin ignored what he just saw, instead, focusing on the sleeping boy. He was young, maybe ten years old at the oldest by Ozpin's guess, his blond hair shone in what little light was in the room.

There was absolutely nothing remarkable about the boy, in fact he looked a little thin for his age actually.

"How is your son, Mrs. Arc?"

She looked to her son, eyes lingering upon his face" He's exhausted, but other than that, he is quite fine"

"I know this is not the most ideal circumstances, but I would like to ask you one more time; what happened?"

"Violette Arc paused, pushing a strand of hair out of her face, collecting her thoughts. "I don't know, I was unconscious at the time; one minute the Grimm are tearing through the settlement, the next, they're gone, just vanished"

Ozpin nodded at her words before looking at Jaune; "May I talk to Jaune when he wakes up?"

He noted how Violette stiffened at the mention at her son's name.

"I-I don't see why, he hid in the basement with his sisters during the attack"

"Yes, but it's for documentation purposes, you understand"

From the frown Ozpin was receiving, it appears that she very much so did not understand the need to question her son, and she was right in a way, what was one more useless testimony.

"I have great respect for you, Ozpin, and what you do..." Mrs. Arc was not looking at him, once more watching the sleeping face of her son. "But my family and I are no longer a part of that way of life. I just want a peaceful life with my family intact"

"I understand, it is not in my nature to force people to do these they would otherwise have no inclination to" Ozpin gave a respectable nod to the Arc Matriarch.

Violette gave him a humorless smile in return before looking to her son once more.

"He wants to be a hero" she suddenly said. "Like his ancestors, like the Arcs of old, that is his dream"

"A good dream" Ozpin answered. "If he is capable, I would be more than happy to welcome him to Beacon Academy when he is of age"

Violette's face hardened as she clutched the covers of the hospital bed. Ozpin realized that he may have overstepped some line.

"I think it's time you left" Violette said softly, hands smoothing out the wrinkles of the covers she had momentarily been twisting.

"After I have spoken to Jaune" Ozpin would not back down on this.

She sighed, one hand reaching to cup her son's face. "... You can speak to him in the afternoon, when he wakes up"

"Thank you" Ozpin turned to go, but stopped. "I am deeply sorry for what transpired here, I wish we had arrived sooner. And on the topic of heroes, Remnants needs them now more than ever."

"And that is what I fear most of all." Violette Arc said sadly before going back to tending to her son. Ozpin took this as his cue to leave the room. He did so, closing the door quietly as he left.

It was as he was leaving the medical ward that he heard the sound of raised voices arguing. Looking over to their source, he saw one of the many surviving townsmen arguing with a little girl.

As he drew near, the young girl left in a huff, decrying everyone who didn't believe her.

Ozpin watched her walk away, before a feeling in his gut told him to talk to her. Ozpin easily caught up with the girl after several large strides, even with his bad leg.

"Hello, little one"

The young girl looked to be around Jaune's age, and had short mint-green hair cut into a bob cut framing her face, uncertain red eyes look up at him as she turned around in surprised. Though her face became guarded and she eyes began darting around.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers"

"Fear not, young one, I am Ozpin, I am part of the Hunters sent to aid this settlement" Ozpin crouched down and looked her in the eye, offering her a small smile of reassurance.

Her eyes brightened. "Then maybe you'll believe me!"

"Believe what?" Ozpin prompt, one silver eyebrow raising in interest.

The young girl fidgeted, handing playing with the edge of her shirt. "No one remembers them"

"Remembers who?" Ozpin asked.

"The knights that saved us" the girl answered, looking up. "The pretty silver knights"

The eyebrow's brother joined it in its quest to disappear in his hair as he took another sip of his mug, letting the intoxicating taste of coffee touch his taste buds as he mulled over her answer.

"There were knights here?" Ozpin asked.

"Yep, one came and saved me, and I saw more fighting the monsters!" she smiled at the memory, before it disappeared to be replaced with a pout. "But no one remembers them"

"And why doesn't anyone remember them?" Ozpin asked, thoughts racing with this new clue.

"I don't know" the young girl answered with a frown.

Ozpin frowned as well, it looked like another dead end, no, that was wrong, now he knew _how_ the Grimm were beaten, and someone was trying to cover it up as well; if what the girl was saying to be true.

"You don't believe me, right?" she asked, looking sad, yet slightly hopeful at him.

Ozpin gave the girl a smile. "On the contrary young lady, I believe you, and can you tell me anything else about this knight?"

The girl's face brightened and she smiled as she remembered what had transpired earlier; "He was really really tall, and really bright, like a, like a, like the moon!" her face scrunched up as she remembered more. "He had a cape too, with gold arches on it"

The little girl continued to talk and talk about the knight, but it appears that her audience had heard enough.

"Thank you, little one, and do not worry, I will get to the bottom of this, and make sure this knight is properly compensated" Ozpin said as he stood back up to his full height. "Now run along, you don't want your mother to worry anymore.

"Okay!" the girl said as she turned around and made to run off before she turned back to Ozpin one last time. "Can you please tell him 'thank you' when you find him?"

"Of course" Ozpin answered with a kind smile.

"Thanks!" The girl yelled as she ran past Ozpin, almost knocking into him as she did so.

Ozpin's earlier smile dropped as his mind tried to piece together the puzzle of what truly happened last night; _'golden arches' she said. Sounds familiar._

Ozpin looked up to the manor upon the hill, their family emblem proudly on display for all to see. _Just what are you hiding?_

He got several steps before he paused and blinked once, then twice.

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow as one hand slowly coming to rest on his pant pocket to search for what was not there anymore.

Speaking to no one in particular.

"... My wallet appears to be gone"

* * *

 **A/N: Here we are with another chapter of this story!**


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